When
Celia’s father is killed in Afghanistan, she moves with her mother
to New Orleans, the city where her father grew up. Struggling to
adjust and haunted by troubling dreams, Celia finds comfort in new
friends like Tilly, a practicing witch, and Donovan, the son of
police detective. On Halloween, bizarre supernatural occurrences rock
the city. Celia meets the mysterious Luc and finds a letter, over a
hundred years old, addressed to her.

The
paranormal repercussions continue when Celia learns that Luc is the
restless spirit of a young man murdered in 1854, only able to assume
solid form at night. And then, to her shock, Celia finds that the
letter, which describes the suspected murder of a man in 1870,
contains uncanny parallels to the present-day death of Abel Sims, a
homeless veteran.With
help from Luc, Tilly, and Donovan, Celia races to solve the
murder—and the mystery of the letter—using both magical and
forensic clues.This
is an Active Fiction title"Active
fiction" is a new type of e-reading experience that allows the
reader and the author to interact with each other and the text in new
and different ways.Kira
has written Parish Mail like a TV series–there are over-arching
mystery and romantic story arcs that extend between the episodes,
while each episode has a smaller case that is presented and solved.
Along the way, she asks you, the reader, to make several small
decisions as you read. These choices do not impact the overarching
storyline, but certain combinations “unlock” clues to the series’
mystery, which are embedded in the text. Kira also asks you to cast a
vote at the end of the episode, to get additional feedback from her
fans about their preferred love interests in future episodes.

My
Thoughts:

Dead
Letter Office is an Active Fiction book which encourages reader
engagement and serial storytelling. When I first started the book
this frustrated me. My thought was “pick-your-path? Ah, no, thank
you.” But, as I got further into the story, I actually liked it.

When
Celia Jane Mccarty’s marine father is killed in Afghanistan, her
whole world changes. Not only must she deal with the loss of her dad,
but her mom decides they will move to New Orleans, where he grew up.

Right
from the get-go, things are definitely spooky. When Celia attends her
father’s funeral, an extremely emotional part of the story I might
add (translation-grab your Kleenex) she happens upon another man
being laid to rest. She notices a small red bag in his hands, and her
grandmother tells her it’s a gris-gris bag, filled with “bits of
bone and powder, blessed by a voodoo practitioner. It’s to protect
his spirit” Her grandmother says this like she is telling her
what’s for dinner. Then, on Halloween, things take a turn for the
worst, and Celia and her friends, a police detective’s son and a
practicing witch, must follow the clues to solve a murder that
mirrors one from decades before. Nothing freaky weird about murder;
the freaky weird part is the way that Celia becomes involved.

The
storyline was fairly good and kept me on my toes throughout. There
were 3 or 4 times when I had a choice of what the heroine was going
to do. It was neat to be able to have my input into the story. Each
choice gave a different clue to the murder, and apparently, some
decisions that the reader makes affect the next book. I am very
curious of course to read the next one, Post Mortem. This opportunity
to make decisions in the story makes me want to read the book again
to see what happens if I make the other choice.

I
found Dead Letter Office to be a very interesting mystery. I was
actually freaked out as I was reading it and unable to put it down,
anxiously awaiting the next ghost appearance or creepy occurrence.
Young readers of paranormal mysteries will definitely enjoy Dead
Letter Office.

Have
you read any Active Fiction books? If so, what book and what do you
think of this feature?